Egypt: Christianity & Christmas in perspective
As I post this, I remember that Hosea recorded the word of the Lord: out of Egypt I will call My Son. This was later fullfilled in the life of Jesus (see Matthew 2).
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EGYPT: GLAD TIDINGS FROM CAIRO
Charisma Online (http://www.charismanow.com)
December 16, 2005
By J. Lee Grady
... Normally I wake up to the sound of an alarm clock at 6 a.m. But today, long before that hour, I was jarred out of a deep sleep by the sound of a Muslim cleric singing his prayers over a loudspeaker near my apartment on the Nile River. ... [O]ne of the world’s oldest Christian communities is rooted here. These Christians have lived in the shadow of Islam for centuries, enduring persecution and discrimination. But I am happy to announce that the Egyptian church is headed toward its finest hour.
... “God is showing us that he loves the Arab people,” my new friend explained. Egypt’s Christians are holding fast to a promise from the prophet Isaiah, who predicted hundreds of years ago that spiritual renewal would sweep from Egypt to the other nations of the Middle East.
“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.”
(Isaiah 19:23-24, NIV)
... when you visit this region you realize more is happening under the surface than what we hear about in Western media reports. God is on the move. ... Arab Christians feel neglected and abandoned by many of us in the West. They don’t understand why some Western Christians seem to show favoritism toward Jews, especially when the Israeli government has at times persecuted and harassed Arab believers in the Palestinian territories. +
Egyptian Christians love all lost people, this leader told me. “But our love for the Jewish people should not cause us to love any other group of people less.” During my December visit to Cairo, just a week before Christmas, I was reminded that Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to Egypt to hide him from King Herod (see Matthew 2:13-15). ...
Source (http://www.charismanow.com/12-16-05).
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+ [This is particularly an issue when Christians are unjustly biased towards those who are Jews according to the flesh while they neglect to show kindness to God's chosen people who have faith, whether Jews or Arabs or from other ethnic backgrounds in Israel or elsewhere. The issue is: will we look to politics or will we seek for the presence of God.]
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EGYPT: GLAD TIDINGS FROM CAIRO
Charisma Online (http://www.charismanow.com)
December 16, 2005
By J. Lee Grady
... Normally I wake up to the sound of an alarm clock at 6 a.m. But today, long before that hour, I was jarred out of a deep sleep by the sound of a Muslim cleric singing his prayers over a loudspeaker near my apartment on the Nile River. ... [O]ne of the world’s oldest Christian communities is rooted here. These Christians have lived in the shadow of Islam for centuries, enduring persecution and discrimination. But I am happy to announce that the Egyptian church is headed toward its finest hour.
... “God is showing us that he loves the Arab people,” my new friend explained. Egypt’s Christians are holding fast to a promise from the prophet Isaiah, who predicted hundreds of years ago that spiritual renewal would sweep from Egypt to the other nations of the Middle East.
“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.”
(Isaiah 19:23-24, NIV)
... when you visit this region you realize more is happening under the surface than what we hear about in Western media reports. God is on the move. ... Arab Christians feel neglected and abandoned by many of us in the West. They don’t understand why some Western Christians seem to show favoritism toward Jews, especially when the Israeli government has at times persecuted and harassed Arab believers in the Palestinian territories. +
Egyptian Christians love all lost people, this leader told me. “But our love for the Jewish people should not cause us to love any other group of people less.” During my December visit to Cairo, just a week before Christmas, I was reminded that Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to Egypt to hide him from King Herod (see Matthew 2:13-15). ...
Source (http://www.charismanow.com/12-16-05).
====
+ [This is particularly an issue when Christians are unjustly biased towards those who are Jews according to the flesh while they neglect to show kindness to God's chosen people who have faith, whether Jews or Arabs or from other ethnic backgrounds in Israel or elsewhere. The issue is: will we look to politics or will we seek for the presence of God.]
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